When I was in 8th grade (1993-1994) was the time that it started to become WILDLY popular for everyone and their mother (pun intended) to highlight their hair. But for my friends and I, it was not 'beauty shop' highlight, it was Clairol
I dyed my naturally brownish hair auburn and it stayed around for an awfully long time (much longer than 24 washings). Before I first highlighted it, my hair had natural blonde highlights. After though, my more reddish highlights that were natural were accented by the dye and never seemed to go away.
Nowadays I still highlight--I get a partial foil. Blondish highlights. However, the highlights that I have now look similar to the natural highlights I had as a kid. Most people don't notice that I highlight my hair unless they actually see me on a day where I haven't washed it, or if they look REALLY carefully at my hair when it's up in a ponytail (when the darkest parts of my hair are noticeable). Over time, hair gets darker and I missed the blonde it used to have, so just before prom Senior Year of HS (1998), I started highlighting it. Ironically, most people didn't really notice, and when I came to college, no one had ever seen it before, so they all thought it was natural. That's usually the comment I get. However, I've never done a full foil because I think that it would be too noticeable. I don't like it when it's obvious that someone dyes their hair--I prefer it when it's just 'natural highlights'